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About: Selected Work

 

daonnedaonne@gmail.com / @ladydaydayday

Daonne Huff is an arts administrator, performance centered artist, poet and Black modern flâneuse. Born and raised in Birmingham, AL but having lived above the Mason Dixon Line her entire adult life, Huff’s practice is rooted in observation, vulnerability, process, synchronicity, inviting the inside outside and rendering the invisible visible. 

 

For the majority of her career, Daonne has been dedicated to increasing arts' accessibility to wider, more diversified audiences, expanding programmatic points of entry for how publics engage with art, as well as advocating for the support and necessity of creative expression and arts education within society at large. She is Artist Engagement Manager at the Joan Mitchell Foundation. She was formerly Director, Public Programs at the Studio Museum in Harlem for almost four years.She has also worked with institutions and organizations including Artadia, ArtTable, The Bronx Museum, Columbia University, Galerie LeLong & Co.,Groundswell, The Laundromat Project, Maysles Documentary Center, Museum of Modern Art, Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership, NADA, NARS Foundation, The National Jazz Museum in Harlem, New York University, Nevada Museum of Art, The New School, Rutgers University, The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and Visual AIDS. She sits on the board of Artistic Noise and has served in advisory capacities at Grounds for Sculpture and The Africa Center.  

 

Daonne holds a BA in Art History from Vassar College and an MA in Visual Arts Administration with a Non-Profit concentration from New York University.  Having devoted the bulk of her adult life to arts administration, Daonne re-committed to her own artistic practice as a result of being continually inspired and encouraged by the artists she was so fortunate to work with. She has performed and exhibited at venues including BLDG 92, Black Lunch Table, Brooklyn Army Terminal, FiveMyles, JACK, Mason Gross Galleries, public parks and private living spaces, Transmitter Gallery, Welancora Gallery, Whitney Museum of American Art, the Zimmerli Museum of Art as well as in private spaces with her iPhone as her only witness and in open public spaces with seemingly no one watching. 

 

Her work is in the collection of the Zimmerli Museum of Art. 

     EDUCATION

 

     PERFORMANCES (Solo) 

  • A Need for Leafy Greens, Stimulus Progression 21 at Mirror in the Woods, Brooklyn, NY August 24, 2019

  • All the Things (for Mary Ellis 1750 -1828) [in 35 parts] for Kara Walker presents The Colossus of Rutgers, Brooklyn Army Terminal, Brooklyn, NY May 11, 2019

  • Tastes Like Chicken [ a protein source], Quantum Gossip, Motel Gallery, Brooklyn, NY December 15, 2018

  • I couldn’t find a dress for the Wedding, So I was in route to the Whitney, the co-cureate shows, Mason Gross Galleries, New Brunswick, NJ, September 29, 2017

 

     PERFORMANCES (Collaborative)​

  • HOT HANDS, soundscape for To You, My Immortal Flame by David Torres II, released October 2020

  • From the Sea, Brought Wealth in collaboration with William Robinson, Ryan Veltmeyer and Anna Leonowens Gallery for Nocturne: Art at Night,  Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, October 17, 2020

  • HOT HANDS, Next, Nature (Evening Invocation and Midday Devotional), FiveMyles Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, September 8 – 9, 2018

  • My Sunshine in collaboration with Mariangela Ciccarello for The Perpetual Care Society presents: Black Mold, Kirkpatrick Chapel, New Brunswick, NJ, April 24, 2018

  • HOT HANDS, The Glass Eye (revisited), JACK, Brooklyn, NY, April 16, 2018 

  • HOT HANDS, 5 Parts of One W(hole): With History Repeating Itself, Will you Love Me Tomorrow?, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, June 8, 2017

  • HOT HANDS, Prism, Mirror, Lens, In Flux Festival and BRIC Biennial 2016, FiveMyles Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, November 21, 2016

  • HOT HANDS, The Glass Eye, BLDG 92 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Brooklyn, NY, February 26, 2016

  • HOT HANDS, These Hands Built, BLDG 92 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Brooklyn, NY, February 21, 2015

  • Paradise Club, The Days of Cage, Dick, and Perky Pat sponsored by Norte Maar Gallery, Experiments in Art and Technology, and Dumbo Arts Center at the Manhattan Bridge Archway, Brooklyn, NY, September 15, 2012

 

     GROUP EXHIBITIONS

  • A Discourse of Accord,Transmitter Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, August 14 - September 19, 2021

  • Zoonotic Masquerade presented by Vegetarian Tiger Productions, December 18, 2020 (online)

  • Touch (part of the Fermata 3:3 series) curated by Yana Dimitrova, Miyako Yoshinaga Gallery, May 20 – June 3, 2020 (online exhibition)

  • How Did You Get This: The Spaces We Inhabit curated by Ivy N. Jones and Damien Davis, Welancora Gallery, Brooklyn, NY,  March 14 – September 13, 2020 

  • Bring Samples, Mason Gross Galleries, New Brunswick, NJ, September 3 – September 18, 2019

  • Silent Reading Hour with Sparkle Nation Book Club on Montez Press Radio, NY, NY, July 25 – 28, 2019

  • Kara Walker presents The Colossus of Rutgers, Brooklyn Army Terminal, Brooklyn, NY May 11 – May 25, 2019

  • “Library Voice”, the co-cureate shows, Mason Gross Galleries, New Brunswick, NJ, September 26 – October 12, 2018

  • Look Both Ways, Mason Gross Galleries, New Brunswick, NJ, September 4 – September 19, 2018

  • HOT HANDS, DebtFair by Occupy Museums, Whitney Biennial 2017, New York, NY, March 17 – June 11, 2017

  • “Please do not spit in the garden”, the co-cureate shows, Mason Gross Galleries, New Brunswick, NJ, September 28 – October 16, 2017

  • Leftovers, Mason Gross Galleries, New Brunswick, NJ, September 5 – September 20, 2017

  • Atlanta Ladies Memorial Association, Zimmerli Museum, New Brunswick, NJ, March 25 – July 2, 2017

  • HOT HANDS, Back Wash, Mason Gross Galleries, New Brunswick, NJ, September 6 – September 20, 2016

 

     SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS & ARTIST TALKS

  • Facilitator, “Sunday Sessions / Deep River Readings,” Asylum Arts, October 25, November 8 and November 22, 2020

  • Panelist, “Making Space: Art and Generative Communal Practices,” POWarts, Zoom, October 8, 2020

  • Panelist, “Welancora Speaks,” in conjunction with the exhibition How Did You Get This?: The Spaces We Inhabit, Zoom, May 1, 2020

  • Guest Speaker and Critic – The New School, New York University, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

  • Public Art Consultant and Facilitator, Windows of Understanding, New Brunswick, NJ, October 2017 – present

  • Presenter, “From White Cube to Storefront & Street // Alternative Approaches & Perspectives for Artists’ Visibility // Case Study: Black Artstory Month,” Temp to Perm: Public Art Conference, Portland, ME, June 2017

  • Presenter, “Artist Slide Slam,” Zimmerli Museum, New Brunswick, NJ, April 4, 2017

  • Presenter, “Reclaiming Community Narrative and Identity from Within,” Creative Time Summit: The Curriculum NYC, Brooklyn, NY, Nov 14, 2015

  • Panelist,” Arts and Juvenile Justice: Creating Opportunities, Catalyzing Change,” National Guild for Community Arts Education Conference, Philadelphia, PA, Nov 13, 2015

  • Presenter, “Art Talks Brooklyn,” The Way Station, Brooklyn, NY, Nov 11, 2014

  • Panelist, “Art and Curatorial Practice in Public Space,” City as Archive/NeWWalls Newark, Newark, NJ, August 16, 2014

  • Moderator, “The New Muralism,” Fountain Art Fair, NY, NY, March 9, 2014

 

     CURATORIAL / PROGRAMMING

  • Kara Walker presents The Colossus of Rutgers, Brooklyn Army Terminal, Brooklyn, NY, May 11 – May 25, 2019

  • The Perpetual Care Society presents: Black Mold, Kirkpatrick Chapel, New Brunswick, NJ, April 24, 2018

  • Atlanta Ladies Memorial Association, Zimmerli Museum, New Brunswick, NJ, March 25 – July 2, 2017

  • Some Assembly Required, multiple sites across Fort Greene/Clinton Hill for Black Artstory Month 2016, Brooklyn, NY, February 1 – 29, 2016

  • These Hands Built, Tipsy and BLDG 92 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Brooklyn, NY, February 1 – 28, 2015

  • Native Sons and Daughters: Locals, (Im)migrants, Expats and Prodigals, multiple sites across Fort Greene/Clinton Hill for Black Artstory Month 2014, Brooklyn, NY, February 1 – 28, 2014

  • A Patchwork Story, Myrtle Windows Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, February 1 – 28, 2013

  • Black Artstory Month on Myrtle, multiple sites across Fort Greene/Clinton Hill for Black Artstory Month 2013, Brooklyn, NY, February 1 – 28, 2013

 

     PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

  • Artist Engagement Manager / Joan Mitchell Foundation / NY, NY / September 2023 - present 

  • Director, Public Programs & Community Engagement / The Studio Museum in Harlem / NY, NY / December 2019 - September 2023

  • MFA Program Coordinator (Visual Arts and Design) and Gallery Coordinator / Department of Art & Design, Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey / New Brunswick, NJ / May 2016 – November 2019

  • Project Manager / Groundswell / Brooklyn, NY / May 2013 – May 2016

  • Project Coordinator and Curatorial Assistant / Isolde Brielmaier / NY, NY / July 2007 – September 2011                                  

      PUBLICATIONS & INTERVIEWS

    RESIDENCIES, FELLOWSHIPS, RETREATS

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